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Thursday, 6 June 2013

Letter to Shuddhananda

ॐ
वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय
धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।

Glad to know from your letter that all are doing well there, and
to go through the news in detail. I too am in better health; the
rest you will know from Dr. Shashi Bhushan. Let the teaching go on
for the present in the method revised by Brahmananda, and if any
changes are needed in future, have them done. But it should never
be lost sight of that this must be done with the consent of all.

I am now living in a garden belonging to a merchant situated a
little to the north of Almora. Before me are the snow-peaks of the
Himalayas looking, in the reflection of the sun, like a mass of
silver, a delight to the heart. By taking free air, regular diet,
and plenty of exercise, I have grown strong and healthy in body.
But I hear the Yogananda is very ill. I am inviting him to come
here But then, he fears the mountain air and water. I wrote to him
today, saying, "Stay in this garden for some day' and if you find
your illness shows no improvement, you may go to Calcutta." He
will do as he pleases.

At Almora, every evening Achyutananda gathers the people together
and reads to them the Gita and other Shâstras. Many residents of
the town, as also soldiers from the cantonment, come there daily.
I learn also that he is appreciated by all.

The Bengali interpretation that you have given of the Shloka 1
etc., does not seem to me to be right. The interpretation in
question is this: "When (the land) is flooded with water, what is
the use of drinking water?" If the law of nature be such that when
a land is flooded with water, drinking it is useless, that through
certain air passages or through any other recondite way people's
thirst may be allayed, then only can this novel interpretation be
relevant, otherwise not. It is Shankara whom you should follow. Or
you may explain it in this way: As, even when whole tracts are
flooded with water, small pools are also of great use to the
thirsty (that is to say, just a little water suffices him, and he
says, as it were, "Let the vast sheet of water be, even a little
of water will satisfy my object."), of identical use are the whole
Vedas to a learned Brahmin. As even when the land is overflooded,
one's concern lies in drinking the water and no more, so in all
the Vedas illumination alone is the concern.

Here is another interpretation which hits better the meaning the
author wishes to convey: Even when the land is overflooded, it is
only that water which is drinkable and salutary, that people seek
for, and no other kind. There are various kinds of water, which
differ in quality and properties — even though the land be flooded
over — according to the differences in property of their
substratum, the soil. Likewise a skilful Brahmin, too, will, for
the quenching of the worldly thirst, choose from that sea of words
known as the Vedas, which is flooded over with diverse courses of
knowledge, that which alone will be of potence to lead to
liberation. And it is the knowledge of the Brahman which will do
this.